A few days ago, we took a very pleasant trip to a great winery we know called Fairview. Here’s the view from the covid-safe patio.
We sipped, chatted with the owner, and lazed. It was very hot outside …
… but that’s really good for the grapes.
Have a good week. 🙂
A few days ago we took a ramble high above Okanagan Lake.
On small land benches overlooking the lake, wine grapes have been planted. It’s perilous to reach some of them but the combination of sun, heat and humidity often produces rather rare varieties such as carménère.
I don’t know what grapes are growing there, but I hope they do well.
Greetings from the beautiful Okanagan Lake and its luscious wine grapes. 🙂
Recently I was going through my photos and found that quite a lot of them are pictures of foods or drinks. I enjoy eating, either at home or in a restaurant and my M is quite a good cook. We are also wine collectors, and we have a decent cellar.
But I didn’t quite realise that I’ve been harbouring a large number of food and drink photos in my archive. Here is a small sample:
A beer flight from a brewery in the Okanagan city of Penticton (where my southern home is).
Some homemade Halloween eyes from last week. These were a lot of work to make!
Hors d’oeuvre from my M. Or, snack time in the d’Arty-Cross household. 😉
Okanagan wine. This was a lovely bottle for a lovely meal.
A picnic. Also lovely, particularly because it was January!
Butter tarts. A Canadian favourite. M made these.
For someone who likes to take landscape and nature photos, there are an awful lot of consumables pictures hanging around in my storage.
And this also explains why my pants can get tight and then I have to lay off for a while. I used to be able to eat what I wanted, but turning 40 changed all that. As I age though, I’m tempted to think, yeah, but I’m getting older, I can cheat some. I’ve earned it, right? I don’t care about a gorgeous (well, I was never gorgeous, but you know) corpse. When I shuffle off this mortal coil, my body should be done, spent, finished, toast, well past the sell-by date, expired, smoked … Really, who’s going to care when I’m taking the big dirt nap?
Having said all that though, I am circumspect up to a point. I do watch my weight and I make a point of exercising because I have to pass medicals every six months. My one virtue is that I’ve never been a junk food person.
What do you think?
Do you like a good meal? Do you worry about your age and the extra baggage? Do you care what you look like, especially if you’re “getting up there” ?
But one final photo. Okanagan peaches. Yum. 🙂
I will be intensely busy at work over the next week or so and won’t be posting. I will still be stopping by but my comments may be limited as well. 
Happy Tuesday and have a great weekend. 🙂
The vineyards of the Okanagan Valley are verdant and blowsy with green growing …
… and green globular wine grapes, tight with juice and flavour …
… unless they’re red. 🙂
Most of them will soon be ready for plucking. They will become lots of types of wine, both precious and humble, and everything in between.
Like us.
Greetings from the vineyards of the Okanagan Valley. 🙂
We recently had dinner at a lovely winery called Kismet.
Really nice Indian food accompanied by Kismet’s wines. These were great matches which is a bit of challenge with spicier foods as the wine can be overwhelmed.
We were also treated to their pretty rose garden.
And one more rosie.
Skol from the Okanagan Valley. 🙂
Recently, we stopped at the Nk’Mip Vineyard on a very hot summer day to have a bite, some water, and a glass of wine.
This bottle only had water, but it was lovely on a parched throat as we drank in the beautiful vista and waited for lunch.
Greetings from the ripening wine grapes of the Okanagan Valley. 🙂
The Okanagan Valley of British Columbia has the perfect environment for growing many types of wine grapes.
It’s very mild and damp in the winter and very hot and dry in the summer. Those conditions produce the right combinations of sugars and flavour profiles for many types of wines, especially “Bordeaux- style blends” (named after the region of France from where they originate), for which the Okanagan is also famous. In England, these blends used to be referred to as “claret.” Here they are often referred to as “meritage.”
One thing many people don’t realise about these grapes is that sometimes, a red grape produces a white wine.
In fact, sparkling wines (in France, it’s known as champagne) usually result from red grapes.
The Okanagan also produces fantastic ice wine. This is a dessert wine that results when grapes are touched by a slight frost. Ice wine is terrific with cheese – a perfect combination of sweet and salty.
Often, I enjoy a good Bordeaux-style blend or meritage.
With a steak or other hearty meal it’s heavenly.
Many people can be intimidated by wine and wine jargon. Try not to let that stop you, because finding a wine you like is one of life’s wonderful little things – and in moderation, it’s also good for you.
Do you like to enjoy a glass of wine?
Here’s a little tour of my home in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. When I am not working in the Northwest Territories, I am usually here.
Okanagan Lake is a very deep, very long north to south (135 km) body of fresh water with very different climates from one end to the other.
Even within short distances, there are extremes. Enormous sage bushes crouch in the dry soil in one spot, and a few meters away …
… there’s a vibrantly green apricot tree.
And then there are the grape vines. Many, many varietals. Some of these grapes will become very expensive bottles of wine while others are much more lowly, but pleasant and worthwhile all the same.
Part of this valley is classified as desert while other parts further to the north are made up of deciduous and coniferous forest.
Right now it is very hot (about 36°C) and dry and while the wine grapes might really like that, there have been some significant lightening-triggered fires as well. A few rain showers would be very helpful.
What are the defining characteristics of your part of the world?
We recently enjoyed some hiking in the Okanagan.
The weather was glorious (especially after our chilly northern snowscape) and we enjoyed it immensely.
There was a little snow at the higher elevations, but mostly there was just some lovely melting.
There will soon be lots of grapes and a new wine season …
… time to enjoy some some summer sippers. 🙂
And an update: we have now returned to the Northwest Territories and have brought some favourite bottles with us. Wonderful to have the warmth of that valley with us as we continue to face up and down temperatures and more snow.
How is your spring coming along?
